The first legislation has been introduced to address the thousands of complaints about variable rate hikes that jacked up homeowners' electric bills by hundreds of dollars.

Rep. Robert Godshall's bill would limit how often and how much power suppliers could raise variable rates to homes and small businesses, and would require suppliers to disclose more information about price changes.

House Bill 2104 was introduced Monday and referred to the House Consumer Affairs Committee that is chaired by Godshall, a Republican from Montgomery County. It could be debated Thursday morning when the committee meets to investigate the variable rate electricity price increases.

Other lawmakers, including Sen. Lisa Boscola of Northampton County, say they intend to write legislation to address the issue, too.

Their legislation seeks to add more controls on the dozens of power suppliers that compete with utility companies like PPL, Met-Ed and PECO in Pennsylvania's deregulated electricity market.

Some of those suppliers sell power at variable rates and hiked those rates significantly in the past few months due to increases in the price of the wholesale power they paid during the unusually cold winter.

If you're not familiar with the issue, which has prompted investigations by the state Public Utility Commission and attorney general's office, read my columns here and here.

Godshall's proposal would require variable rate electric contracts to last for a minimum of six months and ban early termination fees. He wants to limit power suppliers to one rate increase during those six months and limit that increase to no more than double the rate from the previous six-month period.

The bill also would protect customers who sign up for fixed-rate contracts by prohibiting suppliers from switching them to variable rates after their contract expires.

In a related announcement, the Public Utility Commission said Tuesday it wants to significantly reduce how long it takes customers to switch power suppliers. It now can take up to 40 days, which can leave customers stuck paying high rates for another billing cycle.